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Thursday, September 26, 2013

July was a pretty low key month. We went to a couple of Rockies games through the courtesy of my work and friends. One of the games was the one before the 4th of July so we got a good dose of fireworks.

Our first trip to the pool!

3rd of July fireworks!

my friends new baby: Lincoln

my first time making brussel sprouts: SO good!

One activity that has made a big impact on Chris and I this summer is church. We've been going to the Sunday night service at 505! It's a much more intimate service, not so "serious" and really laid back. One of the reasons I love it is because it's in the chapel, which is where we got married. It's just beautiful.
Over the summer our relationship with God has truly grown. We've started praying together, and reading daily verses in the bible. It has truly been a blessing. There are some aspects of the morning service that I miss, but this service works for us if we have something going on in the mornings or decide to sleep in.
This makes me think about my relationship with God. How He knows our ebbs and flows before we do. He knows when we'll be strong and weak. And He's always there for us. He knows the path that we are on, and He will protect us. It's a very overwhelming feeling. But the true blessing is the feeling of being comforted. Knowing that when you put your trust in Him, everything really will be ok. Better than ok.

Just a cute picture

Another of our date nights was a date in Denver, that included tickets to the Botanical Gardens. We had a great time walking around and looking at all of the pretty flowers.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Chris and I were talking recently about time. More specifically about the anticipation of time. And it got me thinking. So much, that it kept me up last night while I was trying to fall back asleep from this horrible cold I have going on right now, and is preventing me from getting a good nights sleep.
I know I've talked about time before, but I think it is sorta amazing. Time isn't really a physical thing, you can't see it. Like air. You know it's there, and you experience during every little moment of every day. You can't live without it.
So I asked myself: What is time? Simply, I think time is an experience. Like a finger print. Completely unique. Each second is different, because it can never be repeated. Gone. Just.Like.That.
Then there is the anticipation of time. The moment when you don't really think about the here, and the now. But what's to come. I feel like a lot of time is spent in this category.
I try to put in a conscience effort to remember now. To be happy for this moment, because I know it'll never happen again. But I also can't help to think about what's to come. I am a planner and all!
Right now I'm happy to be home and comfortable. Chris did get a job (details to come) and I'm home alone for the first time in a long time. I'll admit, I'm selfish and these new hours without my husband will be difficult, but if anything I'll treasure my time with him even more now. So since he isn't here to cuddle with, I get to spend some time with myself, spend some time typing out random thoughts on my blog.
I remember a saying I think I read on Facebook a long time ago about time. It went something like: the days go by slow, but the weeks and the years go by so quickly. I think maybe that's because we're always in anticipation of something. The weekend, the vacation, the birthday, the holiday. And before we know it, those events come, and then they go. Part of the past, just like the rest of life. I have a running countdown of things to come, and I know they'll come, so until then I should really enjoy now. Focus on what I have right now. Not too sure why that is a difficult concept.
Memories are created everyday. Not just days that are "planned" to be special.
As random as this may seem, I suppose my point is to enjoy your time. All of it. The planned the unplanned. I think it is safe to say that most of life is unplanned. And that life changes from what is planned. So we gotta take all of it, and try and enjoy all of it. We may not want some of it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. A lot of things go unplanned, and it's up to us to make the most out of that and to create memories of the unplanned.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The
first of the month started off with a garage sale! I’ve been planning a
garage sale in my head for years, and moving into the new house was
just a reason to actually do it.
Chris wasn’t really on board, so we had a wager for the garage sale.
If I didn’t make at least $200 never again would we have a garage sale.
If I make more than $200 dinner at a restaurant of my choice…which now
that I think about it, hasn’t happened yet!
Because of course, I won! We made almost $400! I didn’t know it until
the week of the sale, but Friday’s are the day to do a garage sale.
But ours was only “open” on Saturday. I definitely think we could have
made more; Chris kept telling people “whatever
you can fit in your car $5”. So they knew we would be cheap on
offers. For me it wasn’t that much work, but I did spread out the
planning and prepping, so I think that helped. Afterwards we took what
was left to Goodwill, and it felt great to get rid of
so much stuff. We now have a fairly empty basement. Hopefully one
day, we’ll get to that (furnishing it, and filling it that is)!

Garage Sale success!

Just a pretty collage I made my Dad for Father's Day.

Mid
month we traveled to Albuquerque. We had two big family get
togethers. One was my cousin Kyle’s wedding, two was my cousin Nikki’s
baby shower!

The view of the mountains from my parents house in ABQ.

Chris & I having fun at the wedding.

Chris wearing my headband. So pretty!

Kyle
married his HS sweetheart at the UNM Alumni Chapel, and the wedding was
beautiful. My mom did a reading as Kyle’s godmother during the
ceremony, and Chris (the bride) wore
my headband from my wedding! She looked beautiful! I was so happy
that my headband got to be worn again.

The Happy Couple: Chris & Kyle! <3 br="">3>

Nikki's baby shower!

My
cousin Nikki is currently due any day now (seriously her due date is
10/1)!, but with all of us in Albuquerque, it was the perfect
opportunity to celebrate her pregnancy with
a baby shower! Nikki’s mother in law threw the party the day after the
wedding and it was perfect “girl” time. My cousin Kari did the
fabulous cake, and the rest of the shower was filled with all things
that Nikki loves! Nikki is expecting a boy, and she
was so gracious for the outpouring of love and gifts. It truly was a
fantastic celebration! Plus, who doesn’t love to spoil a new baby!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

May
was another fun month. We started out the month with a visit from my
parents. This was the first trip my dad had taken to come visit since
I’ve met Chris (excluding the wedding, but my dad
was only in town for the actual day of the wedding, so that doesn’t
count). So it was great to have both of my parents here and in our
element. I can’t remember how long they were here, but it was pretty
rainy during their visit. The purpose of the trip
was a Rockies vs Yankees baseball game. Which unfortunately was a
dud, because there was a 3 hour rain delay and my dad got a sore
throat.

We
did have a great dinner at Linger, which I’m so happy my parents
enjoyed! They left the Saturday before Mother’s Day, and that morning
we went to Sassafras, which was a great breakfast place
before heading to the airport

At the rainy Rockies game

On Mother’s Day I picked up my friend Andrea for the Mother’s Day 5k at City Park. This was the 4th
time of done this race, and I truly enjoy it because I know exactly
what to expect.
This was Andrea’s first competitive race and we both had a great time.
If I recall we had good weather, and the atmosphere of this race is
always nice.

Mother's Day 5k

We had a
fun night out in the middle of the month with one of Chris’ old
co-workers Matt and his wife Karen. We’ve gone out on a handful of
double dates, and they are a super fun couple. We
went to eat at the EDGE and then to see Ron White. Chris actually
introduced me to Ron White who’s a comedian when we first started
dating. We had a great seats, and it was super funny show!

Chris & I waiting for Ron White

Denali playing with catnip that my MIL found in our backyard! The cats love it!!!

Over
Memorial Day weekend Chris’ parents were in town. Mary my MIL has a
super green thumb, so her and Chris went crazy in our backyard. We got a
ton of plants, herbs, and a whole new garden
going in our 3 gardening pods on the side of the house. I myself don’t
have a green thumb whatsoever, but I did plant some pretty things in
one of our planters in the front of the house. We had some nice meals,
and we took them to the improve comedy show
at Impulse Theater which is always fun.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

I’m
going to try and do some monthly updates to try and fill in my blogging
gap, so these posts might be kinda random, who knows. We’ll find out
together. If anything, I’ll know what I’m talking
about! Ha!

The two big activities I have for April are the Rave Run and our trip to Colorado Springs.

The
Rave Run was a 5k in City Park, that Chris and I did together! I know I
said that would never happen, but this was a super fun event for us!
My friend Andrea did it this race too, and it
was her first 5k! The big difference for me and this race was that it
was a night time race. It didn’t start until 9pm…I’m usually in bed at
that time! I was a little nervous, just because all my previous races
had been in the morning, and I really don’t
like to work out on a full stomach. On this day I think we had a huge
breakfast, and a good sized afternoon lunch. I’ve done many races at
City Park before so I knew exactly what to expect when it came to race
day (or night)! We arrived and it was wicked
crowed! In the past I’ve done the Mother’s Day 5k at City Park, and
one nice thing about this race is that it isn’t crowded. Not so, with
the Rave

Run. So many people! We got some neon stuff to wear, and
spent a good amount of time just standing around
before the race actually began. We met up with Andrea, and her friend
she was running with and her husband who was there as her cheerleader.
As with all races I got super nervous prior to the start, but the energy
of the crowd was fantastic. There was loud
techno music playing, and some lights…which made it the Rave Run. Once
9pm came and went and went…the start was a little hectic. I think the
crowd was much bigger than anticipated. So the race organizers just did
random waves to start us off. There were
a few parts along the race of “light shows” and techno music, but
nothing like what we saw in the advertisements for this race. There was
one part where you overlapped previous runners, and volunteers yelling
“if you are coming through here for the first
time go LEFT, if you are coming here for the second time go RIGHT” it
was a bit crazy, and obviously not well organized.

Running
with Chris however, was a lot of fun. It was exactly how I pictured
it, and I’m so happy he did this race with me. He was there by my side
through the whole race and was a great motivator.
Like most things that you start, I was really looking forward to the
end. The feeling of running through the finish line and celebrating
that moment with Chris. Unfortunately that moment didn’t happen. This
is where you could really tell that the attendance
for this race was outta control. The Finish line was a like a funnel.
Getting way too many people squished into a small space. Getting
through the finish line was like walking in a huge crowd: nobody going
anywhere fast. It was a mess. After the face
we learned that a lot people complained about how unorganized the race
was, and we got free admission to the race next year (if they have one)
and 50% off another night time race.

Once we completed the race we went to the Denver Diner for some dinner, and enjoy our late night out!

Later in
April we decided a little getaway was in order, so we traveled down to
Colorado Springs. We did the Cog railroad which was a lot of fun, and
stayed at the Cheyenne Mountain resort.
The Cog Railroad is the highest cog railroad in the country? It
travels up to Pike’s Peak where there was a ton of snow on the ground!
We had a great evening, and a lovely dinner and breakfast the next day
before traveling back to Denver.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

One
of the biggest changes for me when Chris and I got married was the
combination of our finances. I had never done something like this
before and knew it would be a challenge. We officially
combined everything the month after we got married, and for the first 6
months Chris was in control. I’ll admit, I had no idea what was going
on. He tracked what we were spending and he made sure the bills got paid.

Shortly
after the new year I looked into Dave Ramsey. I had some friends tell
me about Dave’s class in the past and always thought it would be a good
resource. I figured now was a great time for Chris and I
to get on the same page. So I signed up Chris and I for the 9 week (we
met once a week for 9 weeks) Financial Peace University class at a
church nearby.

I
was eager to participate and learn, Chris however was just along for
the ride. I did a complete 180 in the class, from not knowing anything
about how we were spending our money to wanting to
know and calculate where every single cent went. I was 100% on board
with what Dave was teaching and wanted to implement his ways right
away. I got crazy obsessed looking at our credit card statement and
bank statement daily. Chris, not so much. I think
it is safe to say we had our first couple of big fights over this and
our finances in general. We were not on the same page. There were many
times I regretted signing us up for the class, and wished we could just
go back to the way things were.

But
thankfully somewhere along the way (probably right about half way
through the 9 weeks class) Chris got on board. He realized that this
plan would work best for our long term dreams and goals.
We talked about our big dreams and how we would spend and save our
money in our married life. We had some truly amazing conversations that
brought us so much closer, and gave me moments of falling even more in
love with my husband. We put together a plan
that at the end of 3 years would leave us debt free (except the house),
have 6 months of living expenses in a savings emergency fund, and a
fund to buy a new SUV with cash.

Things
were looking up. We had a plan and we were putting it in motion. We
both felt great about where we were going. We “graduated” at the end of
May and even though the course started off
incredibly bumpy ended with smooth sails ahead!

Then
life happened. It’s a long and personal story, but by the beginning of
July Chris was without a job, and is currently still looking for full
time work. So everything is currently on hold.
Thankfully we kept more than the “allotted” $1000 in savings that Dave
recommends while you are in the debt snowball phase, and have yet to
touch what is in savings with just my income, his unemployment, and the
help of both of our parents. I know we’ll be
ok, and I’m so thankful that we took the FPU course to set up our
monthly budget, and truly learn where we can cut back.

These
past few months we’ve relied on one of our wedding gifts as our perfect
date night. The gym girls group, individually got us a monthly date
that we’ve been opening up on the 5th
of every month. We’ve had some great dinners, we went to a Rockies
game, a comedy show, the Botanic Gardens, etc… So with those, we’ve
still felt like we have a life!

I
would highly recommended the course regardless of where you are
financially. We learned some great tools and I look forward to
referencing the material in the future. If anything check out
Dave’s website as that alone as some great pieces of information and is
super user friendly.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Hello blog world! I'm back. I've missed you and I've missed my blog. I've thought about coming back for awhile now, if anything for myself. I've always loved going back to read what it is that I wrote, and to remember different points in my life.
I'm in a much better place mentally than before, and I know that there will be times when I'm down and out, but it's important to document those times as well.
I have lots to catch up on, and a few weeks ago I made the above list, by month of what I need to write about to fully document my spring and summer. I've had the list sitting on my desk at work for so long, it got some coffee stains too! So I figure I should go ahead, put it into action, and write a post!
So here I am.
Hopefully over the next few days, maybe weeks, I'll get all caught up.

Younique by April Sweat

About Me

I am a transplant to Denver, CO from Albuquerque, NM since July 2002. I love to dance, travel, and read. I hate going to the gym, but I love the feeling of leaving the gym. It's a classic love/hate relationship. I'm always working on me; the mental, emotional, and physical self. I enjoy eating out and cooking in. I enjoy writing as I usually find an answer to a question I didn't even know I had. I try to be witty and funny, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I married my love in October 2012 and love being a wife to my Hot Husband, Chris! In May 2014 my life forever changed again with the addition of our daughter, Helena Grace! In November 2015 we moved to a small town in Southern New Mexico for a job opportunity for Chris and for me to be a SAHM. We welcomed Bennett Martin into our family in April 2016! In July 2017 we are back in Colorado!
Cheers!

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